Director Terry Gilliam Sparks Outrage After Calling #MeToo Movement A 'Witch Hunt'

Director Terry Gilliam has sparked outrage after he slammed the #MeToo movement as a "witch hunt" and said he is "tired of white men being blamed for everything wrong with the world."

In an interview with The Independent to discuss his upcoming film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, Gilliam said it was difficult being a white man today.

The 79-year-old filmmaker expressed his "hate" of Harvey Weinstein after working with him, and after learning of his sexual misconduct, but added that Hollywood stars Weinstein allegedly victimized were "ambitious" adults who made choices in a bid to succeed in their careers.

"Yeah, I said #MeToo is a witch hunt. I really feel there were a lot of people, decent people, or mildly irritating people, who were getting hammered. That's wrong," Gilliam told The Independent.

"There are many victims in Harvey's life and I feel sympathy for them, but then, Hollywood is full of very ambitious people who are adults and they make choices."

He added: "I understand that men have had more power longer, but I'm tired, as a white male, of being blamed for everything that is wrong with the world. I didn't do it!"

Gilliam's comments prompted a backlash on Twitter, including from the writer who interviewed him for The Independent. "I can't say it was a pleasure to interview Terry Gilliam," Alexandra Pollard wrote.

Director Ava DuVernay responded to Pollard's tweet, citing Gilliam's quote and sarcastically commenting: "Poor thing."

Filmmaker Adam Best tweeted: "Depressing to see so many of the artists I looked up to growing up, like Terry Gilliam, morph into deranged Rush Limbaugh callers."

The U.K.'s Women's Equality Party shared the interview on Twitter, adding: "And we're tired of white men calling 'witch hunt' and refusing to examine the societal privileges that afford them so much scope to behave poorly without consequence."

"If you're so tired go lie down old man," comedian and actor Paul F. Tompkins added.

"White men: want the privileges of being white men," Jeff Yang added. "White men: tired of the responsibility of being white men."

Gilliam's interview was conducted the same day Weinstein broke his silence to tell the New York Post that the allegations against him have led to his work being "forgotten."

"I feel like the forgotten man,'' Weinstein said in the interview. "I made more movies directed by women and about women than any filmmaker, and I'm talking about 30 years ago. I'm not talking about now when it's vogue. I did it first! I pioneered it!"

"It all got eviscerated because of what happened. My work has been forgotten.''

Weinstein is set to go on trial in the coming week on rape and sexual assault charges in New York. The 67 year old has denied allegations of non-consensual sex and pleaded not guilty.